High Schools are facing a new drugs epidemic in many nations - 1.5 million pupils in the UK have already taken drugs - 300,000 will try them this year. Statistics in the US are even worse (see free online book below). Over 700,000 starting UK High School this week will find ready access to every illegal drug - from friends. More than 10% will have tried them by the Summer. And drug abuse is often linked to violence and physical abuse by pupils. That's according to a new book, The Truth about Drugs, by Dr Patrick Dixon.

Article about bird flu written in November 2005. Global human pandemic of bird flu or similar virus is only a matter of time according to the World Health Organisation. World Bank says cost to wealthy nations alone up to $550bn. Several countries talk about closing borders if needed. "Worst-case" death toll remains very unlikely if appropriate action is taken at every stage, and a pandemic could turn out to be no more serious than a larger-than-usual outbreak of ordinary flu. Greatest risk could be emotional reaction to spread. However US government worst-case estimate is 1.9 million US deaths. UK government's worst-case is 800,000 deaths. UN global worst-case is 60 million deaths and 2% fall in output of the global economy.

Zantac (ranitidine) is used to block acid production in the stomach, for indigestion, acid reflux. heartburn, ulcer treatment and treatment of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Zantac works by blocking histamine H2 receptors in the gut (similar to Cimetidine).

Side effects from Zantac are unusual but can include diarrhoea, dizziness or rashes which usually do not last. Slight enlargement of the breasts in men has been reported from Zantac but usually stops when treatment ends.

What is substance abuse and how can substance abuse be treated? Read free book on substance abuse on this site, by Dr Patrick Dixon. "The Truth about Drugs" published by Hodder 1998 covers all aspects of substance abuse, drug use, and drug dependency. According to UNDP 8% of value of all international trade is illegal drugs - the true cost of substance abuse.

Important global trend - Still only at first stage of global pandemic - AIDS kills more people than any other infectious disease (World Health Organisation. AIDS in Africa: biggest cause of all death in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS prevention works - we can stop the spread of HIV - lessons from Uganda - VIDEO

Text of e-mail sent by Skip Weber: I understand that the gap between celebrex and vioxx is widening again. I have been told that scripts are now 56% to 44% and total market share over the last month is 64% to 36%.

I spoke myself to a Zimbabwe AIDS specialist recently who says in one area 60% of all pregnant women are now infected with HIV. It is not enough just to look at seroprevalence rates however. Take a group of 100 college leavers in Uganda, aged 22. Their seroprevalence rate is falling because of behaviour change but may still be 20% in some groups. That means one in five will probably be dead in 5-10 years. However, the even bigger question is what the LIFETIME seroprevalence rate will be?